A. Public health aid will be siphoned into Mugabe’s stash – he’ll nationalize any foreign aid NGOs.
Washington Post – Your Author, 4/20/05 (In Rural Zimbabwe AIDS Still Means Death, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2441-2005Apr19.html)
While the governments of most countries hit hardest by AIDS have cooperated with international donors, Mugabe's government has grown increasingly belligerent toward the West, especially the United States and Britain, which he regularly attacks with caustic rhetoric. Mugabe has won some international praise for his willingness to discuss AIDS publicly, in contrast to South African President Thabo Mbeki. He revealed in a speech last year that members of his family had contracted the disease, and the government also instituted a tax supposedly intended to generate resources to fight AIDS. But many Zimbabweans express doubt that the money raised by the levy has gone to treating or preventing AIDS. There are few public health messages about HIV anywhere in the country, aside from a handful of vaguely worded billboards promoting condom use. The reputation of Mugabe and his ruling party for siphoning public funds for private gain, meanwhile, has made the major international donors even more reluctant to deal with him. And the parliament passed a law last year to bring independent aid groups, which might provide an alternative for delivering international health assistance, under government control. The victims in this standoff between Mugabe and Western donors are Zimbabweans with AIDS, activists here said.
B. This corruption allows Mugabe to channel $240 million dollars to weapons, renewing concerns of a sub-Saharan arms race
Tom Carter, staffwriter of the Washington Times, 6/15/07, (“Zimbabwe stocks up on jets, arms” www.washtimes.com/world/20040615-121213-9266r.htm+Mugabe+%2B+spending+%2B+military&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=14&gl=us)
The government of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has ordered more than $240 million worth of jet fighters and other military equipment from China, renewing concerns of a sub-Saharan arms race in a region with no external threats. The purchase was revealed in a recent parliamentary meeting with Trust Maphosa, the secretary of Zimbabwe's Defense Ministry, the country's opposition said yesterday. "We believe this is a kind of [intimidation] tactic because we are going towards very crucial elections next year," said opposition spokesman Giles Mutsekwa. "The idea is that whatever the public does, there is the possibility of it being subverted by the military," he told Agence France-Presse. The order was for 12 fighter jets and 100 military vehicles, according to the British Broadcasting Corp. "Who is giving money to the Mugabe regime to allow it to buy $200 million worth of military equipment when the economy has collapsed?" asked Annabel Hughes, executive director of the Zimbabwe Democracy Trust. "The world turns a blind eye now when he plans on purchasing new fighter jets and military vehicles to support his one-party dictatorship. Who exactly is the Mugabe regime planning on defending itself from?"
C. This Arms race results in terrorism
Vijay Mehta, President of the VM Centre for Peace & Chair of Arms Reduction Coalition, 9/30/04, “The Danger of Arms Trade in the Global Economy” http://www.arcuk.org/pages/danger_of_arms_trade_vj_shef.htm
Wars and civil unrest continue unabated in Africa, South Asia, (Kashmir and Nepal), Latin America (Colombia), and the Middle East. At least 40,000 deaths world-wide have been caused directly by armed conflict over the past year, with 50% of them in Sub-Saharan Africa. More than 500 million small arms and light weapons are in circulation around the world — one for about every 12 people. They were the weapons of choice in 46 out of 49 major conflicts since 1990, causing four million deaths — about 90 per cent of them civilians, and 80 per cent women and children. Human security is under increasing threat from the spread of small arms and light weapons and their illegal trade. They have devastated many societies and caused incalculable human suffering. They continue to pose an enormous humanitarian challenge, particularly in internal conflicts where insurgent militias fight against government forces. In these conflicts, a high proportion of the casualties are civilians who are the deliberate targets of violence — a gross violation of international humanitarian law. This has led to millions of deaths and injuries, the displacement of populations, and suffering and insecurity around the world. Nuclear weapons are the most devastating weapons of mass destruction, nuclear weapons were exploded twice in the 20th century and many other threats to use them have been made. The first bomb, on 6 August 1945, destroyed the Japanese city of Hiroshima and killed about 100,000 people at once. The second, on 9 August, destroyed the city of Nagasaki and killed about 70,000 people. Many more have died since then as a result of the radiation effects of those bombs. There are 30.000 nuclear warheads in the possession of the declared nuclear weapon states USA, Russia, France, UK and China on top of that there is worldwide proliferation of nuclear weapons and technology which is being deployed by countries such as India, Pakistan, Iran, North Korea and Israel. When so much military hardware is available around the world terrorists can easily create mayhem by indiscriminate mass killing and destruction. Political violence, organised crime and inciting fear in the civilian population are becoming the hallmark of new terrorism.
D. Terrorism threatens the survival of civilization
Yonah Alexander, professor and director of the Inter-University for Terrorism Studies in Israel and the United States. “Terrorism Myths and Realities,” Washington Times. August 27, 2003. http://www.washingtontimes.com/commentary/20030827-084256-8999r.htm
Last week's brutal suicide bombings in Baghdad and Jerusalem have once again illustrated dramatically that the international community failed, thus far at least, to understand the magnitude and implications of the terrorist threats to the very survival of civilization itself. Even the United States and Israel have for decades tended to regard terrorism as a mere tactical nuisance or irritant rather than a critical strategic challenge to their national security concerns. It is not surprising, therefore, that on September 11, 2001, Americans were stunned by the unprecedented tragedy of 19 al Qaeda terrorists striking a devastating blow at the center of the nation's commercial and military powers. Likewise, Israel and its citizens, despite the collapse of the Oslo Agreements of 1993 and numerous acts of terrorism triggered by the second intifada that began almost three years ago, are still "shocked" by each suicide attack at a time of intensive diplomatic efforts to revive the moribund peace process through the now revoked cease-fire arrangements (hudna). Why are the United States and Israel, as well as scores of other countries affected by the universal nightmare of modern terrorism surprised by new terrorist "surprises"? There are many reasons, including misunderstanding of the manifold specific factors that contribute to terrorism's expansion, such as lack of a universal definition of terrorism, the religionization of politics, double standards of morality, weak punishment of terrorists, and the exploitation of the media by terrorist propaganda and psychological warfare. Unlike their historical counterparts, contemporary terrorists have introduced a new scale of violence in terms of conventional and unconventional threats and impact. The internationalization and brutalization of current and future terrorism make it clear we have entered an Age of Super Terrorism (e.g. biological, chemical, radiological, nuclear and cyber) with its serious implications concerning national, regional and global security concerns.
Washington Post – Your Author, 4/20/05 (In Rural Zimbabwe AIDS Still Means Death, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2441-2005Apr19.html)
While the governments of most countries hit hardest by AIDS have cooperated with international donors, Mugabe's government has grown increasingly belligerent toward the West, especially the United States and Britain, which he regularly attacks with caustic rhetoric. Mugabe has won some international praise for his willingness to discuss AIDS publicly, in contrast to South African President Thabo Mbeki. He revealed in a speech last year that members of his family had contracted the disease, and the government also instituted a tax supposedly intended to generate resources to fight AIDS. But many Zimbabweans express doubt that the money raised by the levy has gone to treating or preventing AIDS. There are few public health messages about HIV anywhere in the country, aside from a handful of vaguely worded billboards promoting condom use. The reputation of Mugabe and his ruling party for siphoning public funds for private gain, meanwhile, has made the major international donors even more reluctant to deal with him. And the parliament passed a law last year to bring independent aid groups, which might provide an alternative for delivering international health assistance, under government control. The victims in this standoff between Mugabe and Western donors are Zimbabweans with AIDS, activists here said.
B. This corruption allows Mugabe to channel $240 million dollars to weapons, renewing concerns of a sub-Saharan arms race
Tom Carter, staffwriter of the Washington Times, 6/15/07, (“Zimbabwe stocks up on jets, arms” www.washtimes.com/world/20040615-121213-9266r.htm+Mugabe+%2B+spending+%2B+military&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=14&gl=us)
The government of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has ordered more than $240 million worth of jet fighters and other military equipment from China, renewing concerns of a sub-Saharan arms race in a region with no external threats. The purchase was revealed in a recent parliamentary meeting with Trust Maphosa, the secretary of Zimbabwe's Defense Ministry, the country's opposition said yesterday. "We believe this is a kind of [intimidation] tactic because we are going towards very crucial elections next year," said opposition spokesman Giles Mutsekwa. "The idea is that whatever the public does, there is the possibility of it being subverted by the military," he told Agence France-Presse. The order was for 12 fighter jets and 100 military vehicles, according to the British Broadcasting Corp. "Who is giving money to the Mugabe regime to allow it to buy $200 million worth of military equipment when the economy has collapsed?" asked Annabel Hughes, executive director of the Zimbabwe Democracy Trust. "The world turns a blind eye now when he plans on purchasing new fighter jets and military vehicles to support his one-party dictatorship. Who exactly is the Mugabe regime planning on defending itself from?"
C. This Arms race results in terrorism
Vijay Mehta, President of the VM Centre for Peace & Chair of Arms Reduction Coalition, 9/30/04, “The Danger of Arms Trade in the Global Economy” http://www.arcuk.org/pages/danger_of_arms_trade_vj_shef.htm
Wars and civil unrest continue unabated in Africa, South Asia, (Kashmir and Nepal), Latin America (Colombia), and the Middle East. At least 40,000 deaths world-wide have been caused directly by armed conflict over the past year, with 50% of them in Sub-Saharan Africa. More than 500 million small arms and light weapons are in circulation around the world — one for about every 12 people. They were the weapons of choice in 46 out of 49 major conflicts since 1990, causing four million deaths — about 90 per cent of them civilians, and 80 per cent women and children. Human security is under increasing threat from the spread of small arms and light weapons and their illegal trade. They have devastated many societies and caused incalculable human suffering. They continue to pose an enormous humanitarian challenge, particularly in internal conflicts where insurgent militias fight against government forces. In these conflicts, a high proportion of the casualties are civilians who are the deliberate targets of violence — a gross violation of international humanitarian law. This has led to millions of deaths and injuries, the displacement of populations, and suffering and insecurity around the world. Nuclear weapons are the most devastating weapons of mass destruction, nuclear weapons were exploded twice in the 20th century and many other threats to use them have been made. The first bomb, on 6 August 1945, destroyed the Japanese city of Hiroshima and killed about 100,000 people at once. The second, on 9 August, destroyed the city of Nagasaki and killed about 70,000 people. Many more have died since then as a result of the radiation effects of those bombs. There are 30.000 nuclear warheads in the possession of the declared nuclear weapon states USA, Russia, France, UK and China on top of that there is worldwide proliferation of nuclear weapons and technology which is being deployed by countries such as India, Pakistan, Iran, North Korea and Israel. When so much military hardware is available around the world terrorists can easily create mayhem by indiscriminate mass killing and destruction. Political violence, organised crime and inciting fear in the civilian population are becoming the hallmark of new terrorism.
D. Terrorism threatens the survival of civilization
Yonah Alexander, professor and director of the Inter-University for Terrorism Studies in Israel and the United States. “Terrorism Myths and Realities,” Washington Times. August 27, 2003.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/commentary/20030827-084256-8999r.htm
Last week's brutal suicide bombings in Baghdad and Jerusalem have once again illustrated dramatically that the international community failed, thus far at least, to understand the magnitude and implications of the terrorist threats to the very survival of civilization itself. Even the United States and Israel have for decades tended to regard terrorism as a mere tactical nuisance or irritant rather than a critical strategic challenge to their national security concerns. It is not surprising, therefore, that on September 11, 2001, Americans were stunned by the unprecedented tragedy of 19 al Qaeda terrorists striking a devastating blow at the center of the nation's commercial and military powers. Likewise, Israel and its citizens, despite the collapse of the Oslo Agreements of 1993 and numerous acts of terrorism triggered by the second intifada that began almost three years ago, are still "shocked" by each suicide attack at a time of intensive diplomatic efforts to revive the moribund peace process through the now revoked cease-fire arrangements (hudna). Why are the United States and Israel, as well as scores of other countries affected by the universal nightmare of modern terrorism surprised by new terrorist "surprises"? There are many reasons, including misunderstanding of the manifold specific factors that contribute to terrorism's expansion, such as lack of a universal definition of terrorism, the religionization of politics, double standards of morality, weak punishment of terrorists, and the exploitation of the media by terrorist propaganda and psychological warfare. Unlike their historical counterparts, contemporary terrorists have introduced a new scale of violence in terms of conventional and unconventional threats and impact. The internationalization and brutalization of current and future terrorism make it clear we have entered an Age of Super Terrorism (e.g. biological, chemical, radiological, nuclear and cyber) with its serious implications concerning national, regional and global security concerns.